MP3 of the Week: Debo Band "Lantchi Biye"

Few Boston bands can look back on as crazy a year as Ethio-pop consort DEBO BAND — two trips to Addis Ababa and Zanzibar, a scene-busting residency at the Western Front with guest stars from both coasts in several languages, and a debut EP, Flamingoh (Pink Bird Dawn), that dropped in September. A full-length is brewing, but let’s celebrate the sly perfection of Flamingoh’s closer, “Lantchi Biye,” a dusty update of the East-meets-West parlor jam made famous in Ethiopia by pioneers Mulatu Astatke and Tilahun Gessesse. Debo crank the accordion and cop-funk wah-wah guitar and fry it all in dub echo. And Bruck Tesfaye performs vocal acrobatics over all the trippy stutter steps before things lose control to an incredible dial-up modem breakdown of a sax solo. This Friday, November 19, Debo attempt to fit a sousaphone onto Johnny D’s stage, with Afrobeat four-piece Full Tang opening. Till then, grab “Lantchi Biye” on us down below.